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Girls build their own app at Atos during European Girls Day

Amstelveen, 13 April 2017

More than 20 girls gathered at Amstelveen, Atos headquarters in Benelux & The Nordics, today to experience that IT is more than just programming. During a varied and informative afternoon they were introduced to the world of IT. The visit was marked by Girlsday: an annual European initiative to enthuse girls at an early age for education or a job in engineering or IT.

In many cities worldwide activities were organized for girls between 10 to 15 years to get an introduction to the world of science, technology and digital transformation. At Atos in the Netherlands, girls from two schools gathered: the Reformed Lyceum Zuid Amsterdam and Panta Rhei in Amstelveen. Daughters of Atos employees were invited as well to hear all about working in IT.

A fun and challenging world

The girls were given every opportunity to take a look behind the scenes of Atos. After a short presentation about Atos, the girls got to see engineers at work in the Tech Lab and learned how to build their own app. They were introduced to the Nao robots, and discovered in a playful way what robots mean to society and what they can do for clients of Atos. At the Business Technology & Innovation Center they experienced a digital shopping environment, got a glimpse of Atos offices in the virtual world with VR glasses.

"IT is a challenging profession, but is still seen as “nerdy”. We wish to seize the opportunity for future digital leaders to learn about IT in business at a young age and Girls Day offers an ideal platform. Gender diversity is a huge driver of business that drives innovation, value and accelerates productivity. Today we wanted to show that IT is not at all boring, but is a fun and challenging profession, and on top of that has an impact on our daily lives”, explains Marianne Hewlett, Chief Marketing Officer at Atos in Benelux and The Nordics.

There is still an overall shortage of women in the technology sector. End of 2016 the percentage of women employed by Atos in the Netherlands was around 13 percent, and the company strives to employ 30 percent women by 2020. Atos encourages female students who are about to graduate, to consider a career in the IT sector, and hires more than 100 graduates each year of which a third are women. The program Wellbeing@Work within the Atos Group is focused on creating a pleasant working environment and working conditions, in which the qualities of people, including women, thrive.

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